Apparatus for making paper boxes



April 10, 1956 c. STRAW 2,741,167

APPARATUS FOR MAKING PAPER BOXES Filed Sept. 27 1951 2 Sheets-Sheet l April 10, 1956 C. STRAW APPARATUS FOR MAKING PAPER BOXES Filed Sept. 27 1951 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 630530221 Sflaw, fig WK W,

APPARATUS FOR MAKING PAPER BOXES Clayton Straw, Henniker, N. H., assignor to Henry Russell Davis, In, South Lincoln, Mass.

Application September 27, 1951, Serial No. 243,551

4 Claims. (Cl. 93-43) This invention has relation to box-making, and in particular to the making of wrapped paper boxes. Such boxes conventionally have their sides folded up into box form and secured by stay material applied across the corners by a staying machine, and then a wrapper is drawn over the outside of the box and folded down inside in a separate operation by a wrapping machine. Since there is a problem of centering each box properly with respect to the glue-coated wrapper used to cover it, the putting together of these two parts is a hand operation, though once the box is properly centered the rest of the operation of drawing the wrapper tight and smooth and pressing it into adherence is performed automatically by the wrapping machine. Likewise the coating of the wrappers with glue and feeding them onward one by one to the wrapping machine is performed automatically by an adjunct of the wrapping machine termed the gluer, these two devices and the intervening belt or conveyor being termed the wrapping unit, and the operator having her station intermediate the length of such conveyor where she places or spots a set-up box centrally on the glued surface of each wrapper as it travels past her.

Heretofore, all commercial box-staying machines have used stay strip coated with glue activated by wetting before reaching the corner pressers which cut oif a proper length of the wetted stay material from respective supply rolls thereof and apply it across the four corners of the set-up box. Because of this manner of operation the staying machine could not be stopped for even a second or two without gumming up through sticking of the wetted adhesive on the stays to their feed rolls and guides; it had to be kept running at full speed without interruption to keep the Wetted adhesive from drying and sticking. Since these staying machines turn out from 3,000 to 6,000 boxes an hour, while the speed at which an attendant can perform the spotting of the boxes onto their gluecoated wrappers with the necessary accuracy is far less, seldom exceeding 1600 boxes an hour, it has been impossible hitherto to run the staying machine and the wrapping unit concurrently, i. e., with the staying machine feeding directly to the wrapping units conveyor or to the spotting station. Instead, the output of the staying machine has had to be gathered, carried off to a storage point, and then transported part at a time to the wrapping machine and placed in reach of the operator thereof. This involves the constant services of a number of attendants to gather, nest, and carry away the boxes from the staying machine and stack them up, and then keep bringing them back to the spotting station in proper time and quantity to keep the operator supplied.

Through providing the box-staying machines of my U. S. Letters Patent No. 2,367,698 granted January 23, 1945, and No. 2,641,973, granted June 16, 1953, employing heated pressers and thermoplastic stay material, and activating only the exact length of stay material needed for each box in the act of applying it, I have made it possible to run the staying machine at any wanted speed or to stop it for any desired length of time without nited States Patent "ice gumming up, and thus to combine and coordinate it for the first time directly with a wrapping unit, so that the entire output of the staying machine is fed directly to the operator at the spotting station located between the gluer and the wrapping machine itself, in equal-timed relation to the arrival of the wrappers at such station.

in the present invention, the operator maintains complete control of the production by the staying machine by suitable instrumentalities such as a foot-actuated svu'tch, thus fitting the delivery of stayed boxes from the stayer to the progress of the glued Wrappers on the conveyor past her station. The essential element which makes this novel system practicable is that the operator can stop the production of boxes by the stayer for any length of time, when the occasional inevitable jams or other causes interrupt her disposing of the boxes coming to her from the stayer, without the staying machine gumming up during the stoppage. This latter' difficulty, hitherto always present in all staying machines prior to those of the patent and application named above, is avoided by the elimination of any preactivated stay material and by the resultant ability to stop and start the staying machine without drying of activated adhesive on the stay'strip and clogging of the stay-feeding and handling devices.

By this method of combining the two machines, the stayer and the wrapping unit, directly and concurrently in this manner, the handling, stacking, storing and supplying of the boxes between the staying machine and the wrapping unit, with incidental loss through breakage of the set-up boxes through handling, and the storage space needed to accommodate the stacks of unwrapped boxes, are all eliminated, with obvious gain in economy and efficiency.

Inlieu of manual or pedal control of the stayer by the operator, alternatively a photo-electric switch or equivalent detector mechanism responding to the accumulation at the spotting station of more than the desired number, say two or three, of unwrapped boxes by stopping the stayer until certain of the boxes are removed from the spotting station, is contemplated, thus making the stayer automatically responsive to the speed and requirements of the operator spotting the boxes on their wrappers.

Other objects of the present invention, and the manner of their attainment, are as set forth hereinafter.

An illustrative embodiment of the invention is shown in the accompanying drawing.

The invention is illustrated in conjunction with a standard wrapping unit as manufactured by High Production Machine Co,, Philadelphia, Pa., and comprising a glueing machine 1 applying a coating of wet glue to one side of va series of wrappers taken from a stack 3,,the glued wrappers 5 being fed by a conveyor 7 to a Wrapping machine 9 which folds each wrapper up over the sides of a box placed thereon, draws the Wrapper tight, and presses it into adherence with the bottom and sides of the box, thereafter discharging thewrapped boxes. The operator sits in an elevated chair 11, with a table 13 for a footrest, located alongside the conveyor 1 at a suitable point in the length thereof, and centers or spots a set-up and stayed box 15 on the glued upper surface of each wrapper 5 as it is carried past her by the conveyor 7.

At 17 is indicated a box-staying machine of the type shown and described in my aforesaid second patent, which sets up paper boxes from blanks and applies thereto stay material coated with thermoplastic adhesive, the machine rendering the adhesive active after the appropriate length of stay material has been cut off from the supply and in the act of applying it to the box corners. In the present instance, the illustrated machine is a Kingsbury & Davis stayer built in accordance with U. S. Letters Patent No. 728,086, Davis and Webster, May 12, 1903,

in which the stay-feeding, moistening, and applying mechanism. of such patent has been replaced by the equivalent devices. for supplying, handling, and applying thermoplastic stay material shown and described in my above second patent. The stayed boxes as delivered by conveyor belt 19 from the stayer are fed by such belt onto another conveyor belt 21 which deposits them on a table 23, actually a shelf on the side of the frame 25 of con- 1 veyor 7, which table is located at the operators spotting station, in juxtaposition with and directly across conveyor 7 from her position. Thus all boxes put out by the stayer 17 are delivered within easy arms reach of the operator Without leaving her station, by means of conveyor 21 and table 23. The stayer is run in exact synchronism with the gluer and wrapper, by means described hereinafter, so that the boxes 15 reach the spotting station at the same rate of delivery as the glued blanks from the gluer.

Further, in accordance with the invention, motor 27 driving the stayer 17 is controlled through wires 29 by a foot-operated switch 31 located in table 13 on which the operators feet rest, this switch likewise controlling the driving motors of gluer 1 and wrapper 9, so that all three machines are started and stopped at the same time, as well as operating in unison. This switch is of the type which remains on after one actuation, and ofi after a. second actuation and until again pressed. Thus the operator at her spotting station at all times has complete control of the production and delivery of boxes by the stayer 17, as well as of the operation of the gluer and wrapper. Whenever it is necessary to stop the wrapping unit, the stayer likewise stops instantly to prevent accumulation of boxes on table 23 as when jams occur at the wrapper 9 or the glue 1, or the supply of Wrapper blanks 3 runs out, or the operator must leave her station momentarily. Independent manual controls for starting and stopping the gluer and wrapper independently of the staying machine or running the stayer alone are provided adjacent the spotting station. The speed of the wrapping unit is matched cycle for cycle to that of the stayer by manipulation of the usual adjustable speed control forming a part of motor drive 32 thereof. Tripping of a limit switch 33 to cause a single cycle of the stayer is effected by suitable electric controls of known type actuated at each cycle of the gluer or wrapping machine, thus putting the stayer directly under dominance of such machine; or alternatively the control can be exercised by passage of each combined box and wrapper along conveyor 7, to cause the stayer to put out another box. Such limit switch 33, of known construction, stops the stayer always at the same point in its cycle, herein in loading position with the cross-head 35 carrying the form in its uppermost position.

Automatic temperature controls 37 of known type are also provided to limit the heat of the corner pressers generated therein by the electrical heating units installed in them according to my application above, thus permitting shutdown of the stayer for indefinite periods without pre-heating the stay material so as to activate its adhesive to an extent causing its adherence to the stay-feeding and handling devices, at the same time keeping the pressers at a sufiiicient temperature for immediate resumption of operation. Motor 27 is equipped with a self-acting brake stopping the machine instantly when it reaches the desired point in its cycle as determined by limit switch 33. A main switch for motor 27 of the stayer is also included in the panel carrying temperature controls 37, the motor however being of course dominated by foot switch 31.

While I have illustrated and described a certain form in which the invention may be embodied, I am aware that many modifications may be made therein by any person skilled in the art, without departing from the scope of the invention as expressed in the claims. Therefore, I do not wish to be limited to the particular form shown or to the details of construction thereof, but what I do claim l. Box-making apparatus including in combination a machine setting up and staying paper boxes, means applying adhesive material to box wrappers, mechanism wrapping the wrappers about the set-up boxes, means feeding the Wrappers from such adhesive applying means to the wrapping mechanism, means conveying the boxes from the staying machine to a point in juxtaposition with the path of the wrappers on their Way from the adhesive applying means to the wrapping mechanism, and means adapted to stop the staying machine always at the same point in its cycle and controlled by the wrapping machine whereby the latter dominates the running of the staying machine.

2. Box-making apparatus including in combination a box-staying machine applying stay strip coated with adhesive material activated only in the act of applying the stay strip to each box, a wrapping unit, means adapted to stop the staying machine always at the completion of its cycle, and control means for the stopping means governed by the operation of the wrapping unit.

3. Box-making apparatus including in combination a box-staying machine applying stay strip coated with adhesive material activated only in the act of applying the stay strip to each box, a wrapping unit, wrapper feeding means, means conveying the boxes to such feeding means, devices adapted to cause operation of the staying machine for a single cycle, and means actuated at each cycle of the Wrapping unit actuating the said devices.

4. Box-making apparatus including in combination a box-staying machine applying stay strip coated with adhesive material activated only in the act of applying the stay strip to each box, a wrapping unit, wrapper feeding means, means conveying the boxes to such feeding means, devices adapted to cause operation of the staying machine for a single cycle, means actuated at each cycle of the wrapping unit actuating the said devices, and manually operable control means for operating either the staying machine or the wrapping unit independently of each other.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 728,086 Davis et al. May 12, 1903 1,229,510 Peters et al. June 12, 1917 1,229,512 Peters et a1. June 12, 1917 1,680,764 Clark Aug. 14, 1928 2,016,462 Stokes Oct. 8, 1935. 2,018,237 Stokes et a1. Oct. 22, 1935 2,092,382 Stokes Sept. 7, 1937 2,367,698 Straw Jan. 23, 1945 

